Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Douglas Malloch

Coming Events

April
April is National Garlic Month, National Grilled Cheese Month, and National Soft Pretzel Month
April 17 Mom dental appointment 9 am
April 18 No scouts or cub scouts Dad and Mom to temple.
April 19 National Garlic Day
Nano shopping, freezer clean, lab and lab and doctor day
Dad and Mom to temple
April 20 Friends to dinner
April 21 Happy 61st Birthday, Dad!!
Mom and Dad stake conference meeting at 7 pm
April 22 Happy Anniversary, Cameo and Ethan!!!
Mom and Dad stake conference. Mom has to be there at 8:30 for choir practice. Dad has Job Finding Class at 4 pm
April 24 Happy 38th Anniversary, Dad and Mom 9:28 am
Mom Pack Meeting 7 pm
April 25 National Zucchini Bread Day
Dad scouts 7 pm
April 26 or 27 Nano to doctor, store
April 28 National Strawberry Pie Day
Dad and Mom to ward service project 8 - 10 am
April 30 National Raisin Day
May
May is National Egg Month, National Asparagus Month, National Hamburger Month, and (my favorite) National Salad Month.
May 2 Mom Cub Scouts 6-7 pm
Dad scouts 7-8:30 pm
May 3 Nano shopping
May 4 National Orange Juice Day
National Star Wars Day - May the Fourth Be With You
Mom's baptism anniversary 5-4-74
May 5 Cinco de Mayo
May 6 Mom choir 3 pm
May 8 Coconut Cream Pie Day
May 9 National Butterscotch Brownie Day
Mom scouts 6-7pm
Dad scouts 7-8:30 pm
May 10 National Shrimp Day
Nano shopping
May 13 National Apple Pie Day
May 15 National Chocolate Chip Day (2nd favorite)
Dad dentist 2:30 pm
May 16 Mom scouts 6-7 pm
Dad scouts 7-8:30 pm
May 17 Happy Anniversary, Nathan and Jessica!!
Nano shopping
May 22 No pack Meetin
May 23 National Taffy Day
No den Meeting
May 24 National Asparagus Day
May 25 Happy Anniversary, Mike and Allison!
May 26 National Blueberry Pie Day
May 28 Memorial Day
May 30 Mom No Scouts
May 31 Happy Birthday, Mike!!
June
June is National Aquarium Month, National Dairy Month, National Papaya Month, and National Accordian Awareness Month
June 1-2 Thunderbird Hills Ward Cub Camp (mom not attending(
June 2 Fast Sunday
National Rocky Road Ice Cream Day
June 3 National Egg day
June 6 Mom cub scouts 6-7 pm
Dad scouts 7-8:30 pm
June 7 Nano shopping
June 8 Happy 15th Birthday, Adam!!!
June 9 Happy Birthday, Grandma!
June 10 National Germann Chocolated Cake Dau
June 12 National Peanut Butter Cookie Day

Pizza Party Planner

With the success of a recent party, it was determined that standards should be set regarding having parties here. We want to welcome those who want to use our house for a party, so we determined the following:

1. Event date needs to be reserved at least one month prior. Saturday is the best day. Sunday, we have late church so it is not possible.

2. Saturday - at least 7 days ahead - male head of household needs to come out alone and spend time with Dad cleaning up the yard and porch, putting tools away, mowing the yard, blowing leaves, etc. Dad will work outside while I work inside to get the house super cleaned. I will also make pizza dough for you...no charge...so I need to know the number of pizzas you plan. (Ethan and Cam made 11 pizzas for Kaylee's 2nd birthday)

3. Morning of event - male head of household needs to come over alone and do some final clean up of yard, bringing any chairs and tables, though we do have over 20 chairs and three small tables available for your use.

4. Bring all pizza toppings chopped and ready. Bring any food in addition. We have three drink dispensers for kool aid or lemonade and two small refrigerators you can use.

5. Clean up - we will help but please stay until all is put away, loaded up and cleaned up.

My Inspiration...For Now

"…Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there."

-Thomas S. Monson

“The sweetest experience I know in life is to feel a prompting and act upon it, and later find out that it was the fulfillment of someone’s prayer or someone’s need. And I always want the Lord to know that if He needs an errand run, Tom Monson will run that errand for Him.”

~Thomas S. Monson.

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

-Thomas S. Monson

“Noah waited 120 years before the predicted rains arrived. Abraham waited 25 years for a promised son. Joseph waited 14 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Job waited perhaps a lifetime, 60 to 70 years, for God’s justice.”

“God prepares leaders in a slow cooker, not in a microwave oven. More important than the awaited goal is the work God does in us while we wait. Waiting deepens and matures us, levels our perspective, and broadens our understanding. Tests of time determine whether we can endure seasons of seemingly unfruitful preparations, and indicate whether we can recognize and seize the opportunities that come our way.”

John C. Maxwell

"When you marry someone, you are entrusted with the heart of another human being. Whatever else your life's great mission will entail, loving and defending this heart next to you is part of your great quest."

John Eldredge

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Leonardo da Vinci

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."~Aristotle

" Life is a series of problems. Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort, God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.Painful moments, TRUST GOD.Every moment, THANK GOD.

Pastor Rick Warren"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Family and Friends

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Spiritual
Dad attended a Wednesday evening and it was pleasantly full. He truly enjoyed the spiritual feast!

Kaylee and I attended pack meeting this week. The one cub scout that is almost moving up to the bear den completed all his requirements for the Wolf award! Hooray! That was Sister Day's and my goal! The boys presented their floor mats to sweet little Daniel and he loved them! I was so thankful that Angie had suggested this service project for the boys. It meant something to them, and I do believe they won't forget it!

I am in Moroni 1 in my scripture reading.

I have indexed 20, 281 records so far this year.

Family

The Wilkins Family
The Wilkins family was struggling with some illness this week. Adam was plagued with strep throat! No fun for Summertime! Grace was my buddy and texted me often, and was amazing in her gift of sending me hugs and sweet messages at the perfect moment!

They were making slime on Friday for a fun Summer family project. Sam wanted to sent messages too!

Grace lost another tooth

And made a cute tent for the tooth fairy to stay in (since the Wilkins are losing so many teeth now) complete with bedding, a drinking cup, and a ceiling decorated with stars and the moon.

Sam loved nursery on Sunday and even went potty!

The Ethan Rice Family
Busy Busy week for this family! Cameo had late nights Monday and Tuesday, both for work and for packing up the items she will need to work from their new home. Ethan came late Tuesday night and the movers packed boxes and items Wednesday and Thursday until late in the night (we drove Kaylee home at 6 pm and they were still at it with nothing near being done!) and the truck came Friday to load up. Here's Kaylee's last time coming out of her first home before it's empty

The truck will transport the loaded carrier and it will be taken to be transported via train across the country, then attached to a truck and taken to their beautiful new home! We helped with some final cleaning and repairs on Saturday morning.

We got to visit with them on Saturday afternoon before they headed out to dinner at Jade and James' house, and then visited Dave and Busters for one more hot night of Arizona family fun
Ethan headed to the airport early Sunday morning and got there about 1:30 pm az time (yes, this stalker mom followed his plane across the country. Face it, Rice kiddos...you are ALWAYS gonna be my babies and I will always worry about you and be here for you!!!) Kaylee and Cameo had lunch with Cameo's dear friend Michelle

The Doran Rice Family
Amber spent a few days in Ohio visiting her grandmother with her sister,

and Doran took a few days off work to be with the kids. They came on Wednesday evening to visit and swim.

Kelsie talking to her momma

A very active Kooper talking to momma

Amber had to say goodbye to hear wonderful Dad and stepmom, Barb...

and returned home on Sunday to a slew of happy puppies...and a happier hubby and kiddos!

Morgan
Morgan is loving his new job! He works in the cold room so it's very cold...a Rice boy favorite! He says when he comes into the regular AZ weather, this week in the 110 degree range, he feels like he has the flu! He and Christy are doing well!

Kayty
Kayty started her new job and is really liking it.She had Saturday, Sunday and will have Monday off! She was able to attend church for the second week in a row!!!

The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan and Jessica had a great week. It's so nice to have a break from school for them! Nathan got his final grades: straight A's!! Woot woot!!! He spent some time during the days exploring potential fishing sights...and calling Dad to make him especially jealous!
Some pics I got this week...

Work
Dad had a busy busy week, with meeting after meeting, and more and more responsibilities assigned to him, intermingled with a very long meeting on Thursday morning informing them of a 15 percent across the company reduction in the next two weeks.

Kaylee and I had W week.

Watermelon

Whale

Worm

Walrus

We made pancakes, swam,

And a rare nap! I figured this might be the last time I get to snuggle this little one. She's growing up!

Dad's Garden
We are just keeping it alive! Water bill last month was big!

Dad's Truck
No truck work this week.

Year of the House
No house work this week.

Other highlights
A little morning surprise: rain!

Nano and Kathy went to San Diego to see some of Mom's brothers. They attended the San Diego temple, visited the Newport Beach Temple

I was thinking as I was preparing for Friday: what a year! and it's only the end of July! Two of our children have purchased homes for their families. Most of our children have new jobs or promotions in their former jobs. Once child is nearly halfway done with college and kept his A average up this semester as well, so scholarship continues! One child and his family moved across the country and have a new baby is coming. One grandchild is now a teenager! I am looking forward to witnessing the rest of the year and what it will bring!

I got to jog...3.5 miles...on Saturday morning

Dad and I went to see Dinesh D'Souza's movie "Hillary's America". It was a very tough movie for me to watch. So awful to watch the evils toward other people that have been committed...and the lies and deceptions. Very hard to watch man's inhumanity to man.

Not so highlights
Our Wednesday morning surprise: water pipe break!

Took lots of time...and much advice and help

Thankful that we had extra water to use for flushing and washing, and that the propane tank that caught fire did not burn down the whole room!

A Little About Us...

Our story began at Phoenix College Institute of Religion. I was in a scripture class, when a voice behind me answered a question Brother Johnson had asked. There was something about that voice. Now, don't be foolish enough to think that there were bells ringing and birds singing. It took another year, each of us being engaged to someone else, to see that we were meant for each other.

We married in the Mesa Arizona Temple in April of 1980. Our family grew and grew. We are blessed to have six wonderful children: Allison, married to Mike, and Adam, Grace, Joshua, and Sam, happy in Las Vegas; Ethan, married to Cameo, and Kaylee and Wade, happy in Georgia; Doran, married to Amber, with Kelsie and Kooper, and Charles, who returned to Heavenly Father; Morgan and his sweetheart Christy; Kayty; and Nathan married to Jessica and Annalee and Elisabeth, learning in college in Idaho. . We are a forever family. There will be NO empty chairs at our table!

Our blog will, hopefully, give you a taste of what is the Rice family. Join in the fun, excitement, challenge, and joy.